Another Ladies Lunch

As we'd rented Petit Henri for 2 weeks we thought we'd best take him out for another run or he'd get cranky.  We'd started to recover from the trauma of the trip to Gordes (I truly believe Pierre Pierre was messing with our tiny little minds that day as we've since discovered a much more appropriate safer route i.e. one where you don't feel your life is in danger) & thought a lunch in L'Isle sur la Sorgue would be a very civilised way to spend the day.  Aggie was also excited as reading up on the place there were meant to be some lovely antique stores. 

Apart from nearly wiping out 6 cyclists on the way it all went well (T intersection guys & we were the ones on the main road...come on).

On arriving we cut a lap through the main street to give Petit Henri his 5mins of fame (he was feeling particularly good about himself by now) & checked out our surrounds.  Even though it was Monday there appeared to be lots of stores open...yay.  First things first though, our morning cafe creme had to be had.  Rule No 2...no purchases are to be made on an empty stomach (our brains don't work well when food/coffee deprived!).

We chose this cafe based purely on the blue yoghurt jars on the tables.  We love them & brought a stack home with us from our last trip.  Unfortunately when we sat down we realised they were used as ashtrays...no respect.

 

Coffee was good & hit the spot though.  Hmmm the only way to start the day. 

   

Once fuelled up we were on our way to explore & check out our options for lunch.

 

  

 

 

We thought we'd found a place for lunch on the canal, the table settings were lovely & the view would have been a treat.

 

However a chance meeting with Olivier from Les Toiles de L'une changed our minds completely.  OK it was more that we'd gone into his store to buy stuff rather than a chance meeting, but we've come far on this trip & said we'd be back after lunch - yep after we'd eaten.  God I love it when we learn.

He  recommended Le Carre d'Herbes & as soon as we walked in we knew it was the perfect place for us.  Lovely garden setting, friendly staff & the menu for E18 sounded delicious.

  

 

 

 

 

Merci beaucoup Olivier for your recommendation as we never would have found this on our own.

I honestly thought I'd died & gone to heaven when the chocolate mousse arrived! 

 

 

In the words of Britney...Oops we did it again.  Another little shopping spree at Olivier's store before leaving town....prepare to be a little heavier in your booty on the way home Petit Henri. x

Have Vines Will Shoot

Staying in such a beautiful part of the world you can't help but get out amongst it.  We consider ourselves very fortunate indeed as this tiny little village of La Roque Alric ticked all the boxes...quiet & picturesque, with vineyards practically in our backyard.  A virtual playground that kept us amused with our cameras for hours each day.

We had some time to kill before lunch & those vines were beckoning so we headed off up the hill in our stripey wardrobe selection for the day (would be a nice contrast against the solid colours of the countryside...yep it's all about the shot!).  Every direction you turn you're greeted by the most beautiful shades of green of the vines and fields with bursts of colour from the flowers that seem to grow anywhere.  All of this together with the vivid blue sky as a backdrop is just heaven & this image will be forever etched in my memory.  This is a good thing as unfortunately what the eye sees just wasn't translating onto my Canon.

What to do but get creative with some props...our favourite yellow flowers, the name of which sounding more like a urinary tract infection than a pretty wildflower (we changed it to its slang term Scotch Broom), a person's house (they weren't at home & we were very respectful & left them our Scotch Broom as a thank you), & the vines.  Ah let the good times roll.

  

 

    

 

    

 

  

Joanna get that aperitif ready as we're 5 mins away & eager for le dejeuner!  After another full morning in the fields we've worked up quite the appetite. x

PS Jallay I hope this post satisfies your request. Happy??

The Day We Dipped

When packing to go on a holiday Rule No. 1 is you're only allowed to pack those items you will wear.  We had many will we / won't we discussions about whether to throw in our bathers. We would have a pool in Provence, but would it be hot enough to go for a dip?  The jury voted...the bathers were coming to France.

After returning from lunch on Day 3 in Provence, Aggie made the big announcement..."I'm putting the bathers on & going for a dip".  Ballsy move as I'd felt the temperature of the water that morning & it wasn't exactly warm.  One in all in though, so we headed  to our rooms to cossie up & met at the edge of the pool, wrapped in our beach towels & giggling like 4 year olds who'd had too much red cordial.

Aggie was first in...well her toes anyway.  I thought OK if Aggie can do it, it mustn't be too cold.  Couldn't have been more wrong. I think my right toe went into shutdown when I dipped....holy mother of god it was cold. This wasn't looking good as technically we had to actually get our bathers wet, not just wear them, to be able to tick them off the list. Starting to sense an epic fail coming on we pushed through the pain barrier & surged ahead (Thorpie would have been proud).  When I say surge it did take about 7 mins to actually lower our heels into the water.  Sounds pathetic & we were.  I won't  bother to say how much longer it took to get our knees wet as it's just embarrassing.  

Hmmm what to do?  Maybe if we just kicked our legs while holding ourselves up on our elbows on the side of the pool it would start to warm us up.  Brilliant, until we got a little fatigued & ended up face down on the  concrete...we still kept kicking our legs though as we needed the exercise to work off our 3 course lunch.  To anyone who was unfortunate to be walking by at that particular time & caught a glimpse of us, it would have looked like we weren't the full can of Coke & that our carers had wandered off  & abandoned us to go have a ciggie.  Flailing around like two beached whales, or maybe more like two beached flatheads as one side of our face was totally squashed into the concrete, was not a pretty sight but we wouldn't give up.

I'm sure I saw out of my one good eye (my other one was well & truly closed so as not to get dirt in it being squashed into the concrete & all) two Japanese tourists peer over the fence, shake their heads & walk away.  Doesn't do much for a girl's ego when a Japanese tourist doesn't take a pic.  Hurtful.

Through much yelping, which we tried to do in an American accent as we're Aussies & couldn't bear the shame, we finally got the courage to lower our bodies to get all of our bathers wet (I suspect by this stage we'd actually lost all feeling & possibly just slipped in, with the lowering of the torso being unintentional but pffft).  May have only been for 30 secs but mission accomplished...we'd nailed it.

Brrr time to get out of the pool & lay on the sunbed to defrost & debrief about how fabulous we were (it's amazing how much brighter things look when you get blood flowing to your brain again).  In our minds it was an afternoon of splashing about, lazing on the sunbeds sipping our wine, then back in for some more laps.  Talk about a full on day.


   

 

As much fun as we'd had..couldn't wait to get back into the uggies. 

A perfect look for the pool & waiting in anticipation for the Japanese tourists to come back.  I dare them not to snap these bad boys. x

 

Market Day - Le Barroux

Yves had made it clear that on Saturday at 9am people would be coming to do the garden etc which was no problem at all.  Unfortunately something had got lost in translation as before we knew it the French army had arrived & they were on a mission...for the inside of the house.  Oops.  We'd  been having a leisurely breakfast on our terrace & were still in our PJs & "Rocky" robes (although unlike Rocky's ours were bleu not blanc...still felt like champs though).  

 

We raced inside to grab some clothes before the army attacked our bedrooms.  I couldn't get to my wardrobe in time, damn, but did a commando roll & made it to the ensuite. It was great for the first 5 mins as I cleaned my teeth & did some girly stuff...great that is until I realised I was trapped. These 2 machines were on a mission & there was no way I was interrupting to try & get past them to my wardrobe as I sensed they would allow nothing to come between them & a clean set of sheets.  What to do but take a seat & contemplate what delicious produce we'd buy at the market today & where we'd go for lunch.  Chef Dave immediately sprung to mind, I'm still dreaming of his seafood gnocchi, but should we try Les Geraniums which had been closed earlier in the week?  Hmm decisions, decisions...it really isn't easy being us.

Wait what's that?  The army sounded like they were retreating...time to make my escape.  I commando rolled out of the ensuite & in 3 quick grabs I had my market outfit & was ready to rock.       

Who hoo we'd made it out in record time & with les sacs in hand headed off to Le Barroux.  We'd already discussed that we may have to refrain ourselves from going overboard with what we bought as we we'd have to carry it home.

We practically skipped down the road in our "market" outfits which we'd decided on the day before for the photo shoot.  All the colourful fruit & veg were going to look fabulous against the backdrop of our white tops!

 

Look out Le Berroux the ladies have arrived & we're ready to buy up big!



Devo...this was the market in its entirety...3 stalls.  No greens, but we did get eggs & bread.

With our big market shop over it was time to make the decision about lunch.  Where to eat?  After much umming & ahhing we decided on Les Geraniums. 

A beautiful setting outside in the garden, but unfortunately the wine

was the best part of the meal.  Mushroom ravioli in a verbena broth which wasn't seasoned & just felt slippery in my mouth (not a nice texture at all) followed by risotto with clams, which was slightly better, but again not seasoned.  What the...we're in France for goodness sakes.  Oh dear Les Geraniums you've left our taste buds feeling very underwhelmed.  Maybe chef was just having an off day.

The day wasn't over yet though as we had a plan...dessert at Dave's.

Off we trotted...

 

Oh mon dieu Dave delivered again.  This time with his tiramisu.  Think I'm in love. 

As you can see from Aggie's pose below (very Uma Therman) we were happy little campers.  Can't say the same for le chien...maybe he wanted some dessert too, but we didn't share...not happy Jan (very bugger dog). 

  

 

What an easy walk home this time.  Bags & bellies not weighed down (would have to be a first).

 

 

 

  

  

 

  

 

Petit Henri as much as we adore you we just prefer to walk as we'd never get to experience this stuff trapped inside a car. x